The students were led down many winding cobblestone pathways and eventually reached a small dock which had many wooden boats lined up, ready for people to board them. They had all been instructed to leave their belongings on a patch of grass to the side of the clearing, which Maisie sceptically did. As several students began to file into their boats, finally it was Lee and Maisie's turn to get into one of their own. Maisie watched as Lee carefully stepped into it with no problems at all.

"I have not got a good feeling about this" Maisie said as she was guided to the front of the empty boat which Lee had boarded seconds prior. As she placed one foot on, she began to lose balance as the boat suddenly tilted, making her feet slip from the deck. Maisie felt Lee push her upright to ensure she would not tumble into the water beneath them.

"Next time you trip, I'll let you fall in," he said, sitting back down on the bench.

"How generous" stated Maisie monotonously as she placed her second foot on the vehicle, sitting down next to Lee. They watched as two more students, not any of the girls who were behind them luckily, joined them in the boat.

As Maisie looked around, she now began to realise just how many boats there were to transport all of the first-year students to the main Hogwarts castle. The water was soon littered with flickering lights from the many lanterns on the boats, floating towards the castle ahead.

As their boat was gently pushed from the dock, they too joined the crowd and ventured further into the water. She looked around and noticed one of the girls who had joined them gripping onto the sides for dear life as if she was going to tip over at any second, being reassuringly soothed by her other friend. At least she wasn't the only one nervous.

Despite the slow pace that they had been moving at, the journey to the castle didn't seem long at all. It almost seemed like they had already arrived at their destination as soon as Maisie looked up from admiring the ripples created in the water. The boat docked up at the other side and Lee stepped out first, holding out his arm in case she needed to lean on something like last time.

"I thought you said you weren't going to help me next time" Maisie commented, merely prodding a joke at him.

"As you wish" he replied, taking away his arm as he watched Maisie hobble around trying her best to place a foot on the uneven grass. She soon managed to get off safely with a few grass stains on her legs and shot a look at him. "What?! You're the one who reminded me" he said holding his hands up in mock surrender. Maisie merely huffed in response.

The crowd moved toward the castle as soon as the last boat reached the side and became unoccupied. They soon stopped in front of a large gate with two winged creatures on a wall on either side. Hagrid unlocked the gate with a large copper key from his pocket and pushed it open with great force.

"Rusty ol' thing, needs a bit of encouragement sometimes" Hagrid spoke to himself as he did the same with the second gate. "Just this way, not far to go now!" he spoke loudly so the people at the back could hear him, walking straight towards the castle that could be seen in the distance. After a couple of minutes of walking, they finally reached the front doors of the castle entrance. The doors had already been opened, having been expecting the young students that were now at its doorstep.

"So, I assume you are the first-year students, correct?" Said a woman who appeared from inside the castle. She was dressed in an emerald robe and had grey hair which was pulled up into a tight bun underneath the large, black witches hat she wore on her head.

"I'm assuming you'll be taking it from here, Minerva" Harris gruffly asked the woman who responded with a curt nod. Hagrid hummed in agreement and walked past the woman to somewhere deeper into the castle.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, I am Professor McGonagall", the woman began as she spoke to the entire crowd, "Soon, you will pass through these doors where you will be sorted into your different houses. You will then be seated and your specific house table where you will get to know other classmates who will be joining you this year" she explained slowly. "The houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Your house will be like your family for the time you are here. Any achievements and you will gain points for your house. However, if there is anybody breaks the rules, they will lose points. At the end of each academic year, a winner house cup will be awarded to the house with the most points".

This was responded to with a large amount of murmuring among the group of first years. Everyone was anxiously discussing what was coming next for them and what house they were going to be put in.

"Follow me" Professor McGonagall spoke, walking into the doors to the main hall.

As Maisie entered the room, she looked up to see the ceiling covered with floating candles that illuminated the entire room with a golden glow. There were two tables on each side of the hall with a long walkway in the middle which ended at the front of the hall where all of the professors sat at their respective tables. The heads of the other students instantly turned to face the first years as they made their way down the aisle, almost inspecting them to see if they would be a good fit for the school. At the end of the aisle was a black, tatted hat which was delicately placed on a chair.

"Now," McGonagall began as she moved to stand beside the hat, "before we begin, Professor Dumbledore would like to say a few words". Everyone went silent as the headmaster sat up from his seat which was directly in front of them.

"I have a start of term notice I wish to announce to the new students who will be joining us this year. Please note that the dark forest is strictly forbidden to all students in the first year, it is very dangerous and you could risk serious injuries. Thank you" he concluded as he took his seat once more.

Taking this as her time to continue her speech, McGonagall raised a piece of parchment in front of her face and examined it carefully. "So, when I call your name I would like you to come forth and I shall place the sorting hat upon your head and you will be sorted into your houses. Can I please have miss Tia Arnold".

Everyone watched as a girl with curly black hair emerged from the crowd of people, wringing her hands together in nervousness. She slowly walked up the steps and took her place on the chair where the hat was placed on her head.

"Ah, here we go", the hat spoke in a gruff voice, "a strong leader, Hm? Your determination may come in handy in this house. Better be, SLYTHERIN!" it bellowed and the entire of the Slytherin house erupted into cheers, clapping for their newest addition.

"Better watch out for her", spoke Lee quietly to Maisie, "I hear that almost every person who gets sorted into Slytherin eventually goes bad" he explained.

"What a bunch of rubbish", Maisie replied. Lee turned to look at her, slightly shocked by her abrupt response. "Sorry, it's just my Rachel's a Slytherin and I'm not sure there's one bad bone in her body. As far as I'm concerned, she'd do absolutely anything to help someone in need".

"Is Rachel your sister?" Lee asked her.

"I'd class her as my sister, yes" she replied with a smile. She was going to miss Rachel a lot this year.

As Lee and Maisie ended finished their conversation, they looked around and noticed that it was completely silent with several of the first-year students looking as if they were searching for someone.

"For the final time, do we have a Lee Jordan present?" McGonagall said loudly.

Maisie sniggered at this earning a look from Lee who shamefully raised his hand and slowly made his way up to the chair. Almost as soon as he sat down, the hat barely hovered above his head before it yelled 'GRYFFINDOR!'. The Gryffindor house yelled and applauded as they welcomed Lee with wide arms. He looked back to Maisie with a broad smile as she gave him a big thumbs-up, replicating his facial expressions. The cheering soon came t a halt and everyone waited for the next name to be called.

"Maisie Heart" called out McGonagall to the crowd.

Maisie hastily walked up to the sorting hat, constantly reassuring herself in her head that it was going to be okay. She slowly took her place on the chair and waited anxiously for the answer. Looking around at where she previously stood, she now realised that she had been the last student to get sorted. All eyes were on her, that certainly didn't soothe her nerves.

"Hmm", wondered the sorting hat, "you're a very tricky case, very tricky indeed. You have the ambition of the snake, the patience of the badger, the courage of the lion and the wit of the eagle". Maisie started to question herself, surely this wasn't normal? What did it mean by a tricky case? "I see clearly now, of course, you belong in.. RAVENCLAW!" it shouted. The shrieks and clapping from the Ravenclaw table outweighed all of the other houses by far. Then again, there had only been roughly 15 students sorted into the house so they were overjoyed to claim the last first-year left.

A broad smile was swept across Maisie's face as she bounded down the stairs to join the table. She looked over to where Lee was sitting and was faced with him doing a thumbs up, clearly disappointed but smiling nonetheless.

"Welcome to the best house, newbie," said a rather tall blonde boy as he clapped her on the back in a welcoming manner. Maisie sat down on the last seat available which was next to a dirty blonde-haired girl. She turned around to face Maisie with and smiled at her. The girl held out her hand, to do a handshake Maisie assumed but was rather surprised when she suddenly got pulled into a hug.

"My name's Gianna Edwards", she quickly said as she pulled away and straightened out her already perfect hair, "yours?".

"Maisie Heart" she replied.

"Your surname is so cute!", she exclaimed, "Edwards doesn't really have a nice ring to it with my name being long and all. I'd much rather something short, I've always thought it would add a sort of snap to it if it was, don't you think?"

Maisie waited for the punchline, assuming she wasn't being serious due to the word vomit which came out her mouth only seconds before first meeting her. When she didn't say anything further, Maisie soon realised that this was not the case.

"Oh, right", she replied as she tried to think of an answer, "I do think Edwards suits you, it sounds elegant and.. classy?" responded Maisie, hoping that the answer wouldn't be as long as the last one.

When she said this, Gianna looked at her with wide eyes. "You're totally right, huh", she said thinking about the answer Maisie had given to her, "you wanna know something? I think we're going to make great friends," she said. Maisie merely smiled and shook her head slightly in disbelief, with Lee and Gianna being her companions this year she would practically be forced to come out of her shell a lot quicker than she anticipated.